Indian Americans, who have a sizeable population in crucial Super Tuesday states like California, New York, New Jersey and Illinois, voted in large numbers in the presidential primaries to play a vital role in shaping the country’s political landscape.

Indian American voters may have, in fact, been the swing voters in some of the closely contested states, thus contributing to determining the front-running nominees for president from the Democratic and Republican parties.
New Jersey, which traditionally held its primaries long after the races were more or less decided, was moved up to Super Tuesday this time. According to a statement by the US-India Political Action Committee, which claims to be the political voice of 2.5 million Indian Americans, the community’s support for Barack Obama inched closer in the past month to that for Hillary Clinton because he was able to win over middle-class and younger voters.
Clinton eventually triumphed in a close race between the two Democrats.

“Indian-Americans understand the importance of participating in the political process,” said Rob Andrews, Democrat Congressman from New Jersey.

In California, three lakh Indian-Americans who work in Silicon Valley, looked for the most business-friendly candidate who believes that market forces are best and that outsourcing is not a “war against the (American) middle class” as CNN commentator Lou Dobbs would have you believe.